The leadership crisis rocking the University of Abuja has again taken another dimension, as some aggrieved Professors in the university have called on the Federal Government to investigate the alleged over N3 billion fraud uncovered by a report of the 2021 Presidential Visitation Panel to the university for the 2019/2020 academic session.

Although the university has continued to insist no law was breached in the appointment of Prof. Aisha Maikudi as the Vice Chancellor, the lecturers who pleaded anonymity, claim there was a sinister ploy by individuals complicit in the alleged fraud to put her at the helms of affairs in order to deter any investigation.

According to them, the report, which was submitted to former Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, and published on the ministry’s website, showed there were a series of discrepancies in audited reports during the 2019/2020 session, adding that there was a failure of the then Governing Council to take measures to correct them.

They further alleged a correlation between the appointment of Prof Aisha Maikudi as Vice-Chancellor of the University and attempts to cover up activities of the then-Governing Council which was Chaired by Alhaji Sani Maikudi, father of the VC.

Recall that on June 11, 2021, the Presidential Visitation Panel to the University of Abuja, Chaired by Alhaji Bujar Goni Aji, which was inaugurated on 13th April 2021, submitted its report within sixty days, covering 2011-2015 and 2016-2020.

“The Panel observed that the Governing Council had taken policy steps of boosting the IGR base of the University through upward review of student fees and blocking of leakages in payments.

“To this effect, the Council approved the engagement of Messrs Edutech Portal Solutions, at the cost of N18,900,000, for the deployment of the Student Fees Management Portal to block leakages in payments.

“The Panel, however, noted that based on the official students’ enrolment and the approved student fees as of the 2019/2020 session, the University had the propensity of generating N 4,869,033,958 as against N1,654,896,918 declared by the University Bursary in the Panel’s DGT (see Chap 4 & Vol II, Appendix 50, Page 437)./,” the 342-page report said in part.

The panel also recommended that the “Council should investigate the wide discrepancy between the figure of the IGR from student fees as declared by Bursary, and that deduced by the Panel from the official enrolment data and approved fees and charges.”

Meanwhile, the lecturers, who spoke to newsmen over the weekend, alleged that the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, was in cohort with the current VC to ensure that no action is taken on the damning report.

The tenure of Na’Allah as Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja ended on a controversial note, marked by an industrial crisis with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

The former VC was accused of prioritizing personal interests in certain official engagements, allegedly breaching sections of the university’s Act and administrative protocols.

Tensions reached a boiling point on May 2, 2024, just two months before Na’Allah’s exit, when ASUU declared an indefinite strike.